more use for him as a regular labourer, and it would have still more use for him if he were a skilled workman. With the evolution of modern industry, there is less and less need of the unskilled labourer. He has every encouragement to become a skilled man; and in most progressive countries the number of unskilled labourers is every year on the decrease. It may fairly be said that no one is forced by society to become an unskilled labourer.
But it ought to be noted that "unskilled" is a relative term. Much of the work done by unskilled labourers requires a considerable amount of care and promptitude and perseverance, qualities which involve demands not only on the physical, but also on the mental and moral powers of the workman. Even mere muscular work calls for more than mere muscular energy. "Although the power of sustaining great muscular exertion seems to rest on constitutional strength and other physical conditions, yet even it depends also on force of will and strength of character. Energy of this kind, which may perhaps be taken to be the strength of the man, as distinguished from that of his body, is moral rather than physical. … This strength of the man himself, this resolution, energy, and self-mastery, or, in short, this 'vigour,' is the source of all progress: it shows itself in great deeds, in great thoughts, and in the capacity for true religious feeling."[1] Even the toil of the navvy may be a school of virtue.
In the various trades and professions, the opportunities of living the good life differ very little. Almost every one of them offers a vocation that is
- ↑ Marshall: Principles of Economics, p. 194.
